How do I use this wheat?

Many have said that they don't get any wheat because they don't have a grinder or that they don't make bread. Let me give you some information that may help you realize that wheat is a good thing to have and that you don't need to have a grinder to use it and benefit from it's goodness.

I'm sure you've heard that wheat is the staff of life. This is because wheat has many nutrients to sustain life. The leaders of the Church have been telling us for years to store wheat. Wheat is the basis for many food items such as breads, pasta, cookies (mmm), pie crust, cake just to name a few. Yes, you could store white flour, but white flour only has a short storage life, where wheat will last, if properly stored, for almost ever. Wheat flour has better nutritional value than white flour as well. There is more protein and less carbohydrates in wheat flour than in white flour. Not to mention the vitamin and minerals that is lost when wheat flour is processed and made shelf stable. I'm not saying not to store any white flour, I'm just saying that wheat is a great way to not only sustain life, but to live a healthier life.

Okay, so now that we have the nutritional and storage life out of the way let's talk about how to use the wheat. Of course you can make bread. Now let me say about bread making that I think every one should at least try to make bread. I mean really try, not just try it once, have it not quite work like you think it should and give up. Give it a few tries. Be sure you have a good recipe and good ingredients to begin with. Don't think you are going to make great bread with old, out dated ingredients. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Okay, with that said, I also believe we all have talents. Some of us are good at some things and some of us are good at other things. If you've really put your heart into trying to make bread and it just doesn't turn out as an edible product, I firmly believe in the barter system. Store your own wheat and other bread making necessities, find a friend who does make good bread and make a deal with her (or him, not to discriminate) that you will do something in exchange for their bread making abilities. Does this idea make anyone feel any better? Good.

What else can you use wheat for, especially if you don't have a grinder? You can make the most delicious blender pancakes and waffles. All you need is a blender. You can also make popped wheat, which is kind of like making popcorn. You can turn it into bulgar wheat, which is really a pretty easy process, and use it as a meat extender.

If you don't have a grinder and really want to start using wheat as part of your diet, I'm sure you know someone who does have a grinder who would be happy to let you go to their house, and grind up a bunch of wheat for you to store for use. Keeping fresh ground wheat flour in the fridge or freezer will help maintain its nutritional value as well as keep it from going rancid since the wheat germ has a lot of fat, the flour will go rancid if not kept cool.

Once you get some wheat ground, you can begin to introduce it into your families diet a little at a time. Whole grains and beans are items you want to begin feeding your family a little at a time. The reason is because in a colon that isn't used to a lot of bulky fiber, those foods can cause gas. If there is a lot of gas, there is a lot of pain. You don't want to do this to your family. Even small amounts once or twice a week is a good start.

Be sure to store spices and leavening ingredients, too. You can't do much without leavening, unless you don't mind flat breads, cakes, cookies, etc.

In the next post I'll post some great recipes you can use with and without ground wheat.
Be brave. Try some new things. If you have a good attitude about your basic storage items, the more likely your children and hopefully spouse, will too.
Keep up the great work,
Michelle

Cake Mix Dinner Rolls

Do you love finding new ways to use your cake mixes? I have the perfect roll recipe for you. It's quick (relatively), easy and really good.

Cake Mix Dinner Rolls

2 1/2 c. warm water
1 1/2 Tbl. yeast (or 2 packages, but I hope you aren't wasting your money that way)
1 package yellow cake mix (or 1 recipe of your home made cake mix)
5 c. flour (appx.)

Pour warm water into a large bowl and add yeast-stir until dissolved. Blend in cake mix. Then mix in flour until dough is smooth (you can add more flour as you knead if you need to). Cover bowl and put in warm place. Let rise for 1 hour. Punch down. Spread dough in greased 10x15x1 jelly roll pan, or cookie sheet. Cut dough into squares (a pizza cutter works great for this), cover and let rise until doubled. Bake at 350 for 15-20 min. or until golden. Enjoy

Don't forget yeast

You may or may not have noticed the sale on SAF yeast at Macey's. That is actually a pretty good deal. There are a few more days of that sale, until Tuesday, and you should seriously think about stocking up on that sale price.
Why you may ask, first, SAF yeast is a type of yeast you don't have to "proof", which means you don't have to put it in warm water with a sweetener and wait for 10-15 min. for it to start working. SAF is "instant yeast", no proofing. Second, it takes 5 lbs. of yeast to make a loaf of bread a day for a year. When we can't run to the store and buy bread, because of either money issues, or lack of product on store shelves (remember the pandemic class at the provident living fair?), or trying to stretch a meal, bread is a great filler, we'll need to be making at least a loaf a day. SAF yeast is said to last for at least 5 years, unopened. So, even if you don't use it right away, though you should use it so you know what you're doing before you need to, it will be when you need it.
Don't try to buy all 5 now, get a couple (it's 5.00 for 2) put the date on it, and put it in your storage. Then the next time it's on sale, get a couple more. Before you know it, you'll have enough to make a loaf of bread for you family for every day of the year.
And as long as you have at least the amounts of the items below, along with the yeast you 'll have a years worth of storage to make a loaf of bread a day.
354 lbs. of wheat
23 gal. of water
5 1/4 lbs. or 4 2/3 containers of salt
19 lbs. of oil
35 lbs. of honey
This info. was adapted from the information gathered from this site
http://ourldsfamily.com/madsengarden/EverythingUnderTheSun.pdf
Check it out, and make a print out for yourself, you'll be really happy
you did. Then, check out the you tube videos under Wendy DeWitt.
They will change your way of thinking about food storage.
Also, in case you didn't see the signs, Smiths is starting their case lot
sale on April 1.
Michelle